SAFE
by agawak
Summary: Someone from a doctor's past shows up at County's doors, but what will happen when that doctor no longer works there? Rating is for drug references
1. Going Home

SAFE

SAFE

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to E.R. John Wells is a mastermind for it.

Summary: Someone from a doctor's past shows up at County's doors, but what will happen when that doctor is no longer working there?

Part 1: Going Home

That was it. She had enough. Her "mother" had taken her last straw and she was done. No man in her life since she was six, she decided to leave. She could no longer handle her mother's drug abuse that she had been dealing with since she was six. She was a thirteen-year-old girl having to live her life as a responsible adult.

She did well in school. She got straight A's. She was taken some advanced classes hopping it would help her later in life. She got lucky when she was able to get a job delivering newspapers in New York City where they had lived. They lived in a poor area. It wasn't a safe place for a thirteen year old to be. She took the bus to school in the north side of the city at a private school that was paid for by her aunt.

Her mom would stay out days at a time getting high. Her memories of the happier times when her mom was clean plagued her at night, and she would wake up in sweat and tears. They lived in Phoenix when her mom was clean. They were a happy, normal family of four. Her, her mom, Joe and her Aunt, they were a family.

They were normal parents. Her mom, being clean, had a part time job as a secretary at the local high school. Joe was a cop. He took her to work sometimes. Joe was her dad, but since the nasty divorce, he was no longer dad. They all took turns taking her to school and picking her up while Aunt Suzie played doctor at work. At home they would all eat dinner together. The four of them. Sometimes even one of Aunt Suzie's friends would come. But they were a family, and now at night, she would try to remember, because it brought some peace and even a little hope.

One of Joe's buddies called up one day. She never met him. He talked to Joe a lot. He was also a cop, but he lived in New York City. She would remember when her mom and Joe told her they were moving to New York City that night. Joe's friend got him a job as a cop there, so off they went. They had packed up the house with the help of Aunt Suzie who was also leaving. Her mom fought with her Aunt about the living situation. Her mom promised to stay clean, but knowing her history, her aunt was reluctant to not follow them again. After Joe persuaded her aunt not to follow them, they left Phoenix for the train station.

Aunt Suzie's train left fifteen minutes before there's would. As the train whistled and started moving away her aunt called out to them saying she loved them. She made my mom promise once more to stay clean. At six years old, she chased the train as far as she could, which was not far. Her aunt was going home, and they were going to their new home with a new school, new friends, and a bright future.

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Next Chapter: Part II: History Always Repeats Itself

I hope you all liked it, and I'm sure you've guessed who everyone is, but reviews are awesome!


	2. History Always Repeats Itself

SAFE

SAFE

Disclaimer: I do not own E.R.

Ererererererererererererererrerererererere

Part II: History ALWAYS Repeats Itself

They arrived in New York City. Joe had purchased a new apartment for them to live in. The apartment was located in a nicer area of the city. Her mom and Joe were happy there. She was excited to start first grade the following week, but in the meantime, she helped her mom and dad unpack all the boxes that took over the kitchen and family room. Joe took her and her mom on long walks around the city to get familiar to it. Joe would always say how important it was to stay safe and around adults that she knew and trusted. The city was not very safe, and one will never know what they could be sucked into.

Joe was the most stable person in her life at the time. He struggled to help her mom stay clean while fighting his own urge to drink. Now, knowing what he went through, she can see all the effort it took in him to keep her in line. He would take her to school, go to work, pick her up from school, drive her to soccer practice or dance class, and then he would not come home until late into the night. Only six at the time, she couldn't understand why he wouldn't be home. That's when things got ugly for her.

Starting at that time, she started wishing her Aunt Suzie would come save her. She would cry until the room became blurry and her cheeks become bright red, and she wouldn't stop until the waterfalls put her into a distraught sleep. She wouldn't understand why Joe would never come home, and why her mom began acting strange and giddy. She wanted to be with Aunt Suzie. She wanted her to be her superman. Aunt Suzie had held her family together, and now everything was different, and not in a good way. They say that a child's innocence is hardest to break. She was glade that her innocence and age shielded her to the horrors that were really taking over her life. Her perfect world had now been turned upside down.

It was winter when her mom packed up her favorite stuffed animal and told her they were going on a trip. She was dragged out the door by her wrist, while she cried and threw the hardest tantrum of her life begging her mom not to make her go. Joe was on a trip for "work", so her only hope was Aunt Suzie in Chicago. She cried all the way to the nasty hotel, and while her mom was out getting high, she dialed Aunt Suzie in Chicago crying and terrified as she ever could be. As her mom barged in, she continued to cry. Her mom took her away, and that's the last thing she remembered of that night.


	3. I Believe

Safe

Safe

Disclaimer: I do not own E.R.

Summary: Someone from a doctors past shows up at County, what will happen when that doctor no longer works there?

I Believe

The only thing she remembers is waking up in the E.R. with her mom, Joe and Aunt Suzie hovering around her bed with her mom kick the other two adults out. Ever since then, she had to be the adult. Joe was gone, and Aunt Suzie was back in Chicago. She was alone with her crazy mom. She tried. She did everything in her power to keep their apartment and to stay sane herself. It was hard, but now she was done. She was tired of being an adult. At thirteen years old, she was supposed to be just learning how to start doing more adult things. Instead, she didn't have a childhood because she was busy being an adult.

She was sitting on the train. Waiting. Thinking. Hoping. She knew Aunt Suzie would take her in and help her. Anyone who passed her could see the warn out adult in her and wondered why such a young child looked that why. It wasn't something that you would see everyday. She was tired of taking the responsibility. Her mom wouldn't come home for days, and now, she didn't care. Every since the night her mom kicked Joe and Aunt Suzie out of her hospital room, she lost all respect for the person she called mom.

The train was supposed to be arriving in Chicago in an hour. She had packed the minimal amount of belongings she owned and bought a train ticket to Chicago from New York with the money she earned from working as a paper delivery person. She had her own route that she would take before school on her bike. It was the only job she could get as a thirteen year old. She believed with all of her heart that her aunt would take her in and take care of her just like she did when she was a baby.

Please R&R


	4. Remembering Union Station

Safe

Safe

Disclaimer: I do not own E.R.

Summary: Someone from a doctor's past shows up, but that doctor no longer works at county.

Remembering Union Station

The train to a halt almost immediately. Suzie was eager to see her Aunt again although she was still unsure of what to say. What do you say to your aunt whom you haven't seen in years? She couldn't waltz right in to the hospital saying, "Hey Aunt Suzie, my mom isn't staying clean, so I'm going to stay with you." She couldn't be happy or energetic about the situation. Not only has she not seen her aunt in a long time, but also she would have to tell Aunt Suzie how long her mother had been on drugs.

The doors of the train slide opened and all of the passengers, including Suzie, hurried off. She watched some of the men and woman going in different directions with eagerness and certainty. Suzie only had eagerness and hope. She hoped everything would work out.

She took a deep breath in and clutched the strings of her bag tighter as she slowly begain to maneuver her way through Union Station. She remembered her Aunt tell her story when she left Chicago for Pheonix.

_Flashback_

"_Auntie Suzie, will you tell me your love story again!?" The enthusiastic six year old said._

"_Sure. So I wanted to come live with you and your mom when you were still a baby because I didn't like not watching you grow up pumpkin." The little girl chuckled._

"_Anyway, in order to come live with you I would have to leave work and all of my friends."_

"_Including Mark!" The little girl interrupted excitedly._

"_Yes Suzie, including Mark. I had fallen in love with Mark, but it was time to move on. I packed up all of my things in my house and went to a train station."_

"_Union Station!" Suzie yelled._

"_Yup pumpkin. Union Station. He told me that he loved me, and I still got on the train and as the train went away, I told him that I loved him too."_

"_But you still came to live with me and mommy and daddy."_

"_Yes baby, I did."_

"_Do you still love him Aunt Suzie? Do you still love Mark?"_

"_He was my best friend, but I haven't seen him in five years."_

_End of Flashback_

Suzie remembered how Mark had died only a year later. But that wasn't important right now. A lot had happened at Union Station, and now it was her turn to make her mark. She walked into the Chicago streets with horns honking, taxis flying by and crowds of people. She took another deep breath of the warm Chicago air and walked to the crosswalk to wait for the light to turn to "WALK"


	5. Hold Me Tight

Safe

Safe

Disclaimer: I do not own E.R.

Summary: Someone from a doctor's past shows up at County's doors, but what happens when that doctor no longer works there?

Hold Me Tight

She looked up as she stared at the emergency room doors from the ambulance bay. Her knuckles had begun to turn white from clutching her drawstring bag so tight. Her nerves continued to rise as she felt her hands begin to shake violently yet unnoticed by the other people walking in and out of the hospital.

She had been standing out in the bay for at least ten minutes although time was not kept. She was lost in her thoughts and nerves. She continued standing there. Standing there. She was trying to picture her hand rushing her into that same E.R. all those years ago when she was still a small child. It was during her aunts intense residency and while her mom abandoned her. Now she was older. She hoped she could be strong, but her fears were overwhelming her.

An ambulance had pulled up while two doctors and a nurse rushed to meet them. Suzie still stared at the entrance not moving from that same spot. She took a deep breathe in trying to control the shaking. It was no use because her knuckles only clutched the bag tighter.

She kept telling herself, over and over, to just do it. Susan was her aunt. There was no way she would abandon her. If she was able to take care of her drug-addicted mother, she should be able to meet her Aunt again. She took one more deep breath and took small little baby steps towards the door. As she slowly moved closer she shook a little more violently. She continued taking slow deep breaths. She reached out her arm and pushed the button to open the doors. She took smaller steps but she eventually reached the admit area. A nurse with straight brown hair saw her and quickly came towards her. Suzie was oblivious to this as she was stuck inside her own thoughts and fears. She heard a voice from the distance, but it was the nurse trying to talk to her.

"Hi, I'm Nurse Taggart. What's your name?" Sam Taggart reached her hand out to the shaking girl. The nurse always saw young kids come in without parents and was already waiting to hurt her parents. The E.R. was not a place to dump kids.

"I'm Suzie." She was shaking violently. Sam barely heard her whispered name. Suzie was barely audible to herself.

"Hey Suzie, where are your parents?" Even through her fear, Suzie did not want to explain her situation to some random nurse. Suzie tried to gain even the slightest increase in confidence. She took two slow breaths in and slowly blew them out before responding to the nurse.

"My Aunt works here." Sam smiled with more understanding. She could understand that her parents would drop her off. She could also understand why the girl standing before her was so scared. Hospitals are scary places.

"Alright then. Let's try to find her. Whose your Aunt?"

"Susan Lewis." Sam stopped abruptly. Suzie was confused and more nervous. The nurse was giving off a bad vibe. Suzie felt it as soon as they stopped. "Is something wrong? Where's my aunt?"

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Reviews are welcome!


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